Auberjonois To Return To 'The Last Unicorn'

In addition to his regular role as William Shatner (Kirk)'s law partner on Boston Legal, Rene Auberjonois (Odo) has plans to appear on stage and in the new film version of the fantasy classic The Last Unicorn.

California's Eureka Reporter noted that the actor will join an old friend and colleague, the Ferndale Repertory Theatre’s executive director Marilyn McCormick, in a performance of A.R. Gurney's Love Letters this weekend. Auberjonois has performed in this play before with Nana Visitor (Kira), who played his character's love on Deep Space Nine.

But he does not wish to return to the stage full-time, despite having trained at Juilliard. Said the actor, "Eight shows a week takes up every minute of your existing life...you’re preparing all day, it's in your mind all the time. It's just a tough haul."

Auberjonois is listed at the Internet Movie Database as playing Captain Cully and the Voice of the Skull in The Last Unicorn, the long-awaited live-action adaptation of Peter S. Beagle's fable of immortality and the limits of magic. Auberjonois will reportedly join Christopher Lee and Mia Farrow, with whom he performed in an animated version of the story in 1982.

The Last Unicorn development web site reports that Geoff Murphy will direct the film, which will also star Jonathan Rhys-Meyers as Schmendrick the Magician. Beagle is listed as the screenwriter.

"When you get to my age you actually do a lot less acting," he told the Eureka Reporter. "You have a kind of shorthand [and] the intellectual aspect of acting just disappears."